Different countries do things differently. In Germany in the past, each doctor’s practice was responsible for any little emergencies that their patients had during the night. Being on call all the time, as you might imagine, is not so desirable so the doctor’s worked out a solution. A group of “emergency” doctors were paid by the doctors for taking care of anything that occurred during the night.
This responsibility is still in force today. It was during one of these night shifts that the doctor was faced with an unusual situation. The patient was not 100% fluent in German, but was able to describe the symptoms – cramps and back pains. The young lady who was in her late 20’s was also a new mother.
Some of the questions asked of the patient were related to family history but considering the age and the symptoms a specific line of questioning emerged. One of the questions that came up was about the use of contraception. However, the answers kept coming back about how the patient was breast feeding. The answer itself was a bit puzzling but there was a medical possibility that indeed breast feeding might prevent the ovulation. This is not quite the same as contraception.
Well, it turns out that that the patient didn’t misunderstand the question but believed that breast feeding was just as good as other methods of baby prevention.
She was mistaken and received a congratulatory comment as the doctor left the apartment.